Burned: Just Another One of Those Stories
by gumdropj
Summary: Takes place right after Tempted, how I think Burned will go! Zoey woke up from the darkness and sees you-know-who! Now she wants to stay in the Otherworld with him, but what does that mean for her friends? How does she get out? One-shot.


**A/N: Yes, I know you've read about a million Burned stories by now (I know I have!) but I just felt like writing this version of Burned, how I think it'll play out for Zoey and everybody else.**

**This is my very first HON fanfic! Yea! :D  
**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE HOUSE OF NIGHT SERIES BY P.C CAST AND KRISTIN CAST!**

**_~Zoey~_  
**

I blinked my eyes slowly, glad that I could actually see Heath staring down at me. It felt so good to be out of the darkness and back to my perfect day and with my human rock.

Heath smiled at me and then sighed in relief. "Zo, I thought..." his thoughts trailed off and it was a good thing they did, too. I was so not ready to hear about some horrible things that he thought happened to me.

I leaned back in that meadow I had walked through earlier and let the sun warm me. I nearly forgot how nice it was to be outside without having to worry about the light irritating me. I took in a deep breath of the earthy scents around me and then felt my lips curving up into a mocking smile. "You _thought_?" I said, and then added a very dramatic gasp of horror. "You _think_?" I skillfully clasped one hand over my mouth and clutched my heart with the other.

"Ha, ha. Very funny." Heath threw in a small chuckle, but he was obviously not humored by my dramatics. "You know all football players aren't stupid. I've got brains."

"I know," I said, and gave him a very, very weak playful punch. "Just messin' with ya." I managed to hold in a giggle. _Why am I so bubbly after I've just passed out? _

Whatever.

I closed my eyes and then almost instantly remembered that my tactic was to not think about anything. Idly, I began drawing circles in the grass, loving how soft the it felt in my hands. I took deep breaths and I swear my mind was blank, until Heath mentioned something that jogged my memory.

"Zo....," he started slowly.

"Hmm?" I uttered a response after a few seconds. I was still trapped in my peacefulness and quite frankly I was liking it there.

"I gotta tell you something."

Peacefulness gone. My eyes snapped open, hearing some kind of worry in Heath's voice. "What is it?" I asked, bracing myself for some bad news. I sat up quickly, focusing my attention on Heath who was seated on the ground beside me.

He started his story from the beginning. "You know how I went to go get Stark?"

"Yeah," I responded. _You even offered to punch him for me,_ I thought, but decided it wouldn't be a good time to say something like that.

"Well, when I was looking for him, I came to this maze thing, a labyrinth." He paused for a second to give me a little smirk. I guess he'd been paying attention in class after all. He went on, "and I overheard Kalona and Neferet talking about you."

_Well, no surprise there_, I thought, but again decided that it wouldn't be a good time to say that. All joking aside I asked him, "What'd they say?" I asked and caught a glimpse of my words in the air, only this time they weren't the sparkly purple pattern I 'd seen before. They were an icy blue color and they rippled around me, looking a lot like ocean waves.

"Neferet wanted to kill you, like she did the other professors, and Kalona." Heath took on a more pained expression and spoke in a strained voice. "He said that you would come to him _willingly_. He's setting up traps for you." Heath was silent then, giving me a minute to take this in.

Would I go to Kalona? Was I going to? I wasn't shocked when I realized that the answer was 'yes'. Kalona didn't need to set up traps for me. _I _was the one coming to _him_. It seemed like the only way to know if he could be good, if he was by me.

Heath broke the silence. "You can't fall for it," he said softly, staring intently at me with eyes that glimmered in the sunlight. Ugh, why couldn't I believe them? "He's lying to you."

I began shaking my head absent-mindlessly.

"Zoey, I was _there_, I _heard_ it," he said. "You don't believe me?"

"No, I do!" I said abruptly, avoiding Heath's gaze. I knew what I would see. Sadness, hurt... _pain_. "It's just that he told me the truth before... remember my vision?"

Heath nodded. "He was, but it was like he was only telling you the half-truth. Neferet told him to only tell you parts of the truth so that he could still lie." Heath considered what he had just said. "You get it?" He asked me.

"Yeah," I said. But I still couldn't help but thinking that Kalona had some good in him.

"That's why you have to go back," Heath said with some finality in his voice. "Get out of here, defeat Kalona and Neferet."

"But I don't want to go!" I blurted out, sounding a lot like a 5-year-old. "I want to stay here."

"But you _need _to get out of here," he insisted.

"I _need_ to stay here," I said stubbornly. Okay, this little argument was making me very childish. "I need to be with you." I was surprised at the conformity in my voice and how very true that statement was! I really did _need_ Heath. He was more than just a consort. He was the one who kept me together -up until Kalona killed him. That's what had shattered my soul and brought me here, to the Otherworld.

"Zo, this place isn't right for you." Heath sounded pissed.

I held his gaze for a long moment and tried to make him understand me. "Heath, when I say 'I don't want to go back', I mean 'I _can't _go back. You and me are connected soul-deep, remember?" Heath gave me a quick nod. "So, you can't just expect me to go back to a place where you don't even exist!" Tears began to prick at my eyes, but I blinked them back as Heath pulled me into a very familiar embrace. Life without my human rock. That was _not_ going to happen.

"Z, you know I didn't mean anything like that." He squeezed me tight and breathed in deeply. "It's just that... you still have some business to take care off." After a little while he added, "and I'm not gonna be the one that keeps you from defeating Kalona."

I looked up at him. He seemed to be holding up a guarded expression. "You won't be," I assured him. "You're not forcing me to do anything. I'm the one who's deciding to stay here."

"Okay," he mumbled. Finally! "I just thought your friends might miss you and all...."

"I'll miss them." I thought for a moment and then... got it! "But if I go back," I began. "My soul will just shatter again." I smiled as I added, "and I'll be back here in the Otherworld, stuck with you."

Without looking at him, I could tell he was raising an eyebrow. "You sound happy...."

"I'm only happy 'cause I'm here with you," I said, and snuggled in his arms.

Heath sighed contentedly, kissed me lightly on the cheek, and then totally ruined the moment by ruffling up my hair.

I blew out a long breath and pulled away from him, fixing my hair. "You know I hate it when you do that," I grumbled. I've said that about a million times before, ever since the third grade.

Heath grinned at me, the one that used to make me go weak in the knees, and then swiftly pulled me back into the 'moment'. "Oh, come on, babe. You know you love it!"

"Not really." My tone must have always had some kind of mock irritation in it because he was not getting the message.

"Alright," Heath mumbled, but I highly doubt that he was going to stop his hair-ruffling business.

"So, what do we do now?" I considered looking around for a while, but honestly, I was just happy sitting here.

Heath practically read my thoughts. "How 'bout nothing?" He suggested.

I smiled. "I'm good with that." _But what about everyone else? Where was everyone else? Who all was here anyways?_ _  
_

As if reading my thoughts Heath said, "Don't worry, Zo. It's just you and me, babe!"

I let out a long breath -releasing the lasts of my thoughts with it- and relaxed in the familiarity of Heath's embrace. I closed my eyes, slipping far -too far- into the darkness that had caused me to pass out before

Well, at least it was peaceful.

**A/N: Okay, right now, this is a one-shot. I was going to write in Stark's POV next, but I don't know if I'm going to yet. School is going to keep me very busy. **

**Anyways... review! Tell me what you think! No flames though. :)**


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